Editing William Blake (section)

=== Visions ===
From a young age, William Blake claimed to have seen visions. The first may have occurred as early as the age of four when, according to one anecdote, the young artist "saw God" when God "put his head to the window", causing Blake to break into screaming.<ref name=bent78>Bentley, Gerald Eades and Bentley Jr., G. ''William Blake: The Critical Heritage''. 1995, pp. 36–7.</ref> At the age of eight or ten in [[Peckham Rye]], London, Blake claimed to have seen "a tree filled with angels, bright angelic wings bespangling every bough like stars."<ref name=bent78 /> According to Blake's Victorian biographer Gilchrist, he returned home and reported the vision and only escaped being thrashed by his father for telling a lie through the intervention of his mother. Though all evidence suggests that his parents were largely supportive, his mother seems to have been especially so, and several of Blake's early drawings and poems decorated the walls of her chamber.<ref>A note of caution, however: Peter Ackroyd recounts that on one occasion "his mother beat him for declaring that he had seen visions", suggesting that, though "he was beaten only once... it became a source of perpetual discontent". Ackroyd, Peter (1995). Blake. London: Sinclair-Stevenson. p. 21-2, {{ISBN|1-85619-278-4}}.</ref> On another occasion, Blake watched haymakers at work, and thought he saw angelic figures walking among them.<ref name=bent78 />

[[File:William Blake 002.jpg|thumb|right|''[[The Ghost of a Flea]]'', 1819–1820. Having informed painter-astrologer [[John Varley (painter)|John Varley]] of his visions of apparitions, Blake was subsequently persuaded to paint one of them.<ref name=langr>Langridge, Irene. ''William Blake: A Study of His Life and Art Work''. 1904, pp. 48–9.</ref> Varley's anecdote of Blake and his vision of the flea's ghost became well-known.<ref name=langr />]]

Blake claimed to experience visions throughout his life. They were often associated with beautiful religious themes and imagery, and may have inspired him further with spiritual works and pursuits. Certainly, religious concepts and imagery figure centrally in Blake's works. God and Christianity constituted the intellectual centre of his writings, from which he drew inspiration. Blake believed he was personally instructed and encouraged by [[Archangel]]s to create his artistic works, which he claimed were actively read and enjoyed by the same Archangels. In a letter of condolence to [[William Hayley]], dated 6 May 1800, four days after the death of Hayley's son,<ref>{{cite book |title=Memoirs of the Life and Writings of William Haley, ESQ Vol II |last=Johnson |first=John |year=1823 |publisher=S. and R. Bentley, Dorset-Street |location=London |isbn= 9780576029568|page=506 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6vm8ao7Qks8C&pg=PA506 }}</ref> Blake wrote:

{{blockquote|I know that our deceased friends are more really with us than when they were apparent to our mortal part. Thirteen years ago I lost a brother, and with his spirit I converse daily and hourly in the spirit, and see him in my remembrance, in the region of my imagination. I hear his advice, and even now write from his dictate.}}

In a letter to John Flaxman, dated 21 September 1800, Blake wrote:

{{blockquote|[The town of] Felpham is a sweet place for Study, because it is more spiritual than London. Heaven opens here on all sides her golden Gates; her windows are not obstructed by vapours; voices of Celestial inhabitants are more distinctly heard, & their forms more distinctly seen; & my Cottage is also a Shadow of their houses. My Wife & Sister are both well, courting Neptune for an embrace... I am more famed in Heaven for my works than I could well conceive. In my Brain are studies & Chambers filled with books & pictures of old, which I wrote & painted in ages of Eternity before my mortal life; & those works are the delight & Study of Archangels. (E710)}}

In a letter to Thomas Butts, dated 25 April 1803, Blake wrote:

{{blockquote|Now I may say to you, what perhaps I should not dare to say to anyone else: That I can alone carry on my visionary studies in London unannoy'd, & that I may converse with my friends in Eternity, See Visions, Dream Dreams & prophecy & speak Parables unobserv'd & at liberty from the Doubts of other Mortals; perhaps Doubts proceeding from Kindness, but Doubts are always pernicious, Especially when we Doubt our Friends.}}

In ''A Vision of the Last Judgement'' Blake wrote:

{{blockquote|Error is Created Truth is Eternal Error or Creation will be Burned Up & then & not till then Truth or Eternity will appear It is Burnt up the Moment Men cease to behold it I assert for My self that I do not behold the Outward Creation & that to me it is hindrance & not Action it is as the Dirt upon my feet No part of Me. What it will be Questiond When the Sun rises do you not see a round Disk of fire somewhat like a Guinea O no no I see an Innumerable company of the Heavenly host crying Holy Holy Holy is the Lord God Almighty I question not my Corporeal or Vegetative Eye any more than I would Question a Window concerning a Sight I look thro it & not with it. (E565-6)}}

Despite seeing angels and God, Blake has also claimed to have seen Satan on the staircase of his South Molton Street home in London.<ref name="flavorwire1" />

Aware of Blake's visions, [[William Wordsworth]] commented, "There was no doubt that this poor man was mad, but there is something in the madness of this man which interests me more than the sanity of [[Lord Byron]] and [[Walter Scott]]."<ref>{{cite web | title=Blake's vision on show | author=John Ezard | url=http://arts.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,1254856,00.html#article_continue |work=The Guardian |location=UK | date=6 July 2004 | access-date=24 March 2008}}</ref> In a more deferential vein, John William Cousins wrote in ''A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature'' that Blake was "a truly pious and loving soul, neglected and misunderstood by the world, but appreciated by an elect few", who "led a cheerful and contented life of poverty illumined by visions and celestial inspirations".<ref>{{cite book |title=A Short Biographical Dictionary of English literature |last= Cousin |first=John William |year=1933 |publisher=Plain Label Books |isbn=978-1-60303-696-2 |page=81 }}</ref> Blake's sanity was called into question as recently as the publication of the [[1911 Encyclopædia Britannica|1911 ''Encyclopædia Britannica'']], whose entry on Blake comments that "the question whether Blake was or was not mad seems likely to remain in dispute, but there can be no doubt whatever that he was at different periods of his life under the influence of illusions for which there are no outward facts to account, and that much of what he wrote is so far wanting in the quality of sanity as to be without a logical coherence".